A switched reluctance motor (SRM) is a type of an electric motor that, depending upon an application, is operated as a motor and/or as a generator. For example, SRMs may be utilized as a generator when mechanical energy is required to be converted into electrical energy, or as a motor when electrical energy is required to be converted into mechanical energy. SRMs typically include a stator having a number of stator poles and a rotor having a number of rotor poles. The rotor is generally formed from a stack of laminations. During operation, each of the stator poles are successively excited to generate a magnetic attraction force between the stator poles and corresponding rotor poles to rotate the rotor.
For relatively large-scale applications, such as in electric drivetrains of construction machines, SRMs may be applied for enabling one or more of the machine functions. A rotor applied in such SRMs may be relatively large sized and may require a commensurately higher balance mass for enabling a balanced rotor rotation. Further, it may be a challenge to accommodate such large-sized rotors in an already constrained space that is generally afforded in such machines. Moreover, during a handling of such relatively large sized rotors, the laminations of the rotor e prone to damage.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,084,902 relates to an end plate that is generally cylindrical and has a central bore to receive a rotor shaft. The end plate has a radially inner boss and a radially outer boss. The radially outer boss is positioned radially outwardly of windings in a generator. The radially inner boss is positioned radially inwardly of the windings in a generator.